1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a thermo-electro-stimulation probe device that is capable of applying heating, cooling, and/or applying electrical current and/or stimulation to a patient as part of a thermo-electrotherapy treatment.
2. Background and Related Art
Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (“TES”) is a relatively non-invasive technique that is used by many healthcare providers across the world. In some cases, TES is used to stimulate nerves in a process referred to as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (“TENS”). In this regard, TENS often uses an electrical current to stimulate peripheral nerve ends and/or acupuncture points across the surface of a patient's skin. While this stimulation may cause several effects, in some cases, it has been found to provide analgesic effects by activating specific natural pain relief mechanisms.
As a result of its simplicity, TENS can be administered either in clinics by healthcare professionals, or at home by patients. In some cases, the ease of use, general safety, portability, and effectiveness of TENS equipment make TENS a preferred treatment, oftentimes more favorable than the long-term use of medications and nerve blocks for chronic pain. In this regard, in addition to being relatively non-invasive, TENS treatments may also have relatively few side effects when compared with certain competing types of drug therapy.
Although TENS treatments have been found to be useful in a variety of applications (including for providing analgesic effects, increasing blood flow to a treated area, etc.), some conventional TENS equipment may have shortcomings. By way of example, as some TENS electrodes are strapped or adhered to patients, and as some such electrodes are fixed to devices that limit the electrodes' movement, such electrodes may not be effectively used to manually massage a patient while the patient receives a TENS treatment. In another example, the electrodes of many TENS units are configured to stimulate a patient through a TENS treatment, but are not configured to provide the patient with other useful types of stimulation.
Thus, although methods currently exist for treating a patient with TENS, challenges still exist. Accordingly, it would be an improvement in the art to augment or even replace current techniques with other techniques.